Stick Around is an iPad app for playing, creating, and sharing labeling and sorting puzzles. Stick Around became a reality because of the collaboration between Tony Vincent, a former fifth grade teacher, and MorrisCooke, an app development studio based in Poland. Stick Around is now in the hands of teachers, parents, and students after countless Google Hangouts, emails, Dropbox files, and beta versions.

Tony has facilitated hundreds of iPad workshops for teachers. In 2011 he had a number of open-ended educational apps he relied upon. He would showcase the use of these apps for teachers and sometimes model them in classrooms. Tony saw a need for a labeling, sorting, and matching app. The apps and games Tony found in the App Store already had the content programmed into them. Tony’s idea was to make an app where the user can create their own study aids with their content of choice.

Tony Vincent

While poolside on vacation, Tony came up with using the theme of stickers, and after that epiphany, he was determined to get the app made. Not being a programmer, Tony knew he was going to have to commission the app. He made mock-ups of what the app might look like and wrote up a set of specifications.

But now where to go to get the app developed?

Tony sent the mockups and specifications to several app developers, and he was hoping that MorrisCooke would present the best bid. Tony was very familiar with MorrisCooke’s education app, Explain Everything, and he heard Bartosz Gonczarek and Piotr Sliwinski on this episode of Lisa Johnson and Yolanda Barker’s podcast.

Bart and Piotr weren’t very interested in being contractors–they wanted to be partners on the project! Tony had not considered this type of arrangement. Bart and Piotr explained that being partners would mean that MorrisCooke would have strong motivation to make the best app possible because they would be co-owners.

Tony agreed and the contract to begin work on Stick Around was signed in May 2012. Even though Tony and the geniuses at MorrisCooke have never met in person, they developed a fantastic working relationship.

Tony feels that the release of Stick Around is one of his proudest accomplishments. A major reason Tony wanted to get into app development was to follow the process and learn along the way. He’s already learned a lot, and the release of the app is just the beginning of Stick Around's story! Tony plans to periodically share his thoughts and experiences on this blog.